D.A. Cairns's Blog, page 33

W.A.S. A Muddy Red River cover reveal

Here is the cover for my new novel, A Muddy Red River which is coming soon from Rogue Phoenix Press

The madness of the A to Z Blogging Challenge is over, and now I have returned to my normal writing activities-almost. I say almost because, I have not as yet resumed work on my WIP, Lovesick. I have, however, submitted a number of short stories, and one of them has been accepted for publication. Two rejections and one acceptance. Not bad. Acceptances now stand at 43. My goal is to hit 50 in 2015.

I also entered one of my favourite stories, Still It Bleeds in the Alfie Dog Fiction International Short Story Competition Incidentally, you can find a number of my short stories there at Alfie Dog short stories by D.A.Cairns at Alfie Dog Fiction

The new cover for Devolution is in its final stages and I hope to be able to reveal that to you soon, as well as details of its release.

And lastly, a daft scots lass gave me Bloggin Award for making her smile. Thanks very much for that. It's nice to be appreciated.

Exciting times!

Celebrate the small things: Rubbish dumps

I dropped my car off to a mechanic for what was supposed to be a routine inspection, but subsequently had to walk to the bus stop, ride home and wait for the dreaded afternoon call telling me how much it was going to cost me.

On the way to the bus stop, I met a young lady from Care. With some time to spare, I decided to hear her pitch. Care does impressive work for poor people around the world. I related to her how I was first confronted by extreme poverty. In the early 1990s I was in the Philippines with YWAM. We were taken to the Manilla city dump and shown a village of shanties inhabited by people who lived and worked on the rubbish tip. It smelled bad and it looked awful and it made me cry. I had never seen such desperate poverty, nor will I ever forget it.

So today, I am extremely grateful for the blessing of being born in Australia: a wealthy nation, and into a family who raised me with no lack of material needs or love and care. I am going to celebrate the fact that I am rich in every way that counts, and compared to most people in the world, I am also materially blessed. This is something I do not take for granted. 

A simple thing like being able to go to the tap in my kitchen and get a drink of fresh water is worth celebrating, is it not?

2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge Refractions

I tried throughout the challenge to come up with interesting and unique titles for my posts, so it seemed appropriate to do likewise with the post commonly known as reflections.

This was my third year doing the challenge and I participate for three reasons.

To increase traffic to my website. I am an author with a low profile (almost anonymous) and therefore see the challenge as a way to introduce myself, and my work to more people.To network with other bloggers, especially writers. Each year I gain new blog buddies and I like that.To challenge myself as a writer.
I have achieved these three goals on every occasion, so for me the challenge is very worthwhile and enjoyable. However, I must confess to having an avaricious heart and I hunger for much more success. A look at the statistics is underwhelming. Especially in terms of interaction. Consider this:

Although the average number of page views per day in April was 157, which is a lot more than Square Pegs usually gets, the average number of comments per day was only 2. Also, very disappointingly, the number of additional followers of Square Pegs was zero.

I received 64 comments from 33 commentors, and of them I want to especially thank, and promote the following people.

Cold As Heaven 12 comments Cold As Heaven
Sharon Marie Himsl 8 comments Shells, Tales and Sails
Tamara Narayan 5 comments Tamara Narayan, author
Jeffrey Beesler 4 comments Jeffrey Beesler's World of the Scribe
Jeremy Hawkins 4 Hollywood Nuts

If you missed any of the action, it's not too late to check out Square Pegs, where the most viewed posts during the challenge were
Private Health Insurance Problems and Quintessentially Quirky

The most commented upon posts were:
Hooray for Harry 7
The Irrationality of Independence 6
Flies On Me 6

Wondering about the theory I tested with my Grapes and Tea posts?

The most popular blogs seem to be those about food or animals. Add a recipe or a cute animal picture, and voila! I wrote two posts about food, and they were pretty dull, I thought. I deliberately put very little effort into them, especially the one about grapes. I did this to test my theory and see if just having grapes in the title would attract more visits than something like the Irrationality of Independence. The results of the experiment did not support my theory, as neither of my two food posts attracted unusual traffic. However Cats are Cute did receive the second most page visits (121)

For the administrators of A-Z, may I suggest that there be a minimum word count and a maximum. I skipped a number of blogs I visited because the posts were too long, and I also did not bother to comment or revisit blogs who were only using pictures or videos instead of writing. Maybe separate categories. I also don't think people who miss posts, should be able do catch ups, and there were a number of bloggers who pulled out, but still had active links on the list. 

Sorry to sound like a nazi. I love the A to Z Challenge, and I just think some tweaking might improve it further. I look forward to joining with you all once more in 2016. Now it's back to normal transmissions.

Z End

Appalling and cheap. Unworthy of me and the high standards I set for this blog. Yes and yes, and yet I have reached the end. This is my third year of blogging A to Z in April and it really has been quite a challenge. There are multiple demands on my time, and I have been staying up later than usual to manage. I haven't had a bed time read for a month because by the time I get to bed, I'm too tired to even open the book. The Hobbit has been waiting patiently on my bedside table, silently craving my attention.

The challenge pushes me and I love that. Deadlines work for me. I can drift into unproductive nonchalance quite easily, and I do have a propensity for procrastination. I would love to have a editor demanding I finish my WIP, because of all my readers who were dying to get their hands on my fifth novel, and because of all the money they, the publishers that is, would make. I reckon I would rise to that challenge, instead of finding other things to do because really, where is the urgency? I do not have a galaxy of eager readers salivating over the prospect of another literary gem from D.A.Cairns. (Incidentally I do write literary gems) No one expects anything from me, except me.[image error]

So I end this whingefest in the 2015 A to Z Blogging Challenge, with a complaint against myself. I am indeed my own worst enemy. Fortunately, Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, and I can go with that quite happily.

A couple of questions to finish with: Do you do better working to deadlines, or setting your own pace? And secondly, who or what is your worst enemy?

Photo sources:
http://muls.org/2015/03/31/ill-later-...
http://pha.purdue.edu/news/mu-deadlin...

Y is for Yeasty

My thanks for the inspiration for this post go to phrontistery. I now know a new word. Actually, I may have heard it before, but I would have assumed it had to do with yeast, as in add a 'y' to make an adjective saying that something has a lot of yeast. Yawn. I'm bored already.

A definition of yeasty: characterised by upheaval; restless and turbulent. Phrontistery says it means full of restless energy or creativity. So here's the rub. I am full of restless energy and creativity, and my life over the past year in particular has been characterised by upheaval.

I've wondered why God has made me such a creative person if he had no intention of providing me sufficient outlets for that creativity. The answer is that he wouldn't, and he didn't. Not provide me adequate channels to express my innovative thoughts, I mean.

[image error] This is why I get so frustrated and bored with mundane tasks. My job is replete with inordinate paperwork demands which demand nothing of me other than my attention. Life itself requires much ado about nothing which likewise consumes my time and energy while stifling opportunities for inventiveness.

Why, oh why, I cry, can I not have more time to write stories which is my real passion? Poor thing. Yawn. Still bored? Me too. It's over now. 

Is yeasty a word which you could apply to yourself?

Photo sources:
http://www.lallemand.com/featured/pag...
http://blog.adw.org/2014/11/thank-god...

XXX or XOX

Welcome to Square Pegs all seekers of pornography. Sorry to disappoint you but there is no porn here. I don't like it, but, even though I may have brought you here under false pretences, I do have an important point to make..so hang around. There is a massive difference between XXX and XOX.

Where did these symbols come from and which came first, X for sexually explicit or other extreme material, or X for a sweet kiss? To answer this question, I have undertaken the most extensive course of research ever on Square Pegs.*
It would seem that X was used to denote the strength of liquor, sometime in the 19th century. More Xs indicated increasing strength. In the mid 20th century, X appeared for the first time in the Oxford dictionary and was listed in relation to discussions about X ratings for strong adult content in films. During the 1970s adult film makers applied more X's to indicate more explicit content, and here we are in the 21st century where XXX is synonymous with pornography including some very, very sick stuff.
The X itself is very old, dating back to the early Christian era where to sign with an X was the same as to swear an oath. Read more here the origins of X and O
Hugs and kisses are much nicer than pornography, so I am going to go out on an extremely prejudiced limb, and say that X has been stolen and perverted just as many beautiful things like sex itself, have been distorted and perverted. There is such an enormous chasm between 'I love you. xoxo' and 'I want to XXX you', that it's worth seriously pondering, and deciding that sex should never be divorced from love, and that love does not always even need sex.
There! What do you say about that? And no pictures in this blog either...ah ha!
* extensive research = Yahoo answers

The Worrying thing about Worrying

It really is a worry how much we worry. I am a worrier and I'm quite worried about it because I although I know how unproductive my worrying is, I still do it. When I get told not to worry, I worry even more. I'm very worried right now about overusing the word 'worry' in this post. I'm worried that no one will read this post, or comment on it. I'm worried I should be doing something else now. I'm worried that I should be worrying about something else besides the worrisome issue of worrying.

Jesus said that no one can make their lives any longer by worrying. I believe in Jesus. I'm a Christian, but it worries me sometimes that I worry so much.

There is one saving grace, two actually: worry does not usually deprive me of sleep, or affect my appetite. I know someone who routinely goes with little or no sleep because she can't stop worrying. I lay my head on the pillow, think a few happy thoughts and I'm gone. I reckon if you can't sleep, or eat, or you are turning to excessive amounts of alcohol or some drug because of your worrying, then that qualifies as a problem.

Everyone worries a little here and there, and many of the things we worry about are worthy of concern-if not anxiety. However, there are many things we worry about which are totally beyond our control, Where then, is the sense in worrying over those things? I'm telling you not to worry, but we all know it's not that easy, and if you like me, you're probably more worried now.

You know what worries most of all? This blog may not help at all. In fact, with all my harping on about worrying, I probably caused you some worry. In fact, I may have inadvertently elevated your worry to anxiety.Sorry about that.

Are you a worrier?

Photo sources:
http://www.dandavisblog.com/blog/worried
http://www.rich20something.com/vortex...

V is for Victory

Today is ANZAC Day. ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. April 25 is a national holiday of commemoration to honour members of our Defence Forces who have served, and who are serving our country in the cause of peace. In particular we remember those who have lost their lives in the line of duty.

I am having a right royal time in the A to Z Blogging Challenge, complaining about things, with a couple of experimental exceptions, but today I cannot complain because I feel very grateful. I live in a great country: Australia, and it's great because of the ANZAC spirit which was immortalized on April 25, 1915 at Gallipoli. The Australia and New Zealand soldiers who landed at Gallipoli at dawn on that day, suffered a calamitous defeat. 8000 brave men died. The campaign was an unmitigated disaster, and had no impact at all upon the wider European conflict. However, it spawned the ANZAC legend which is now an intrinsic part of who we are, as Australians and New Zealanders.


We applaud their bravery, and honour their sacrifice on this day. The battle at Gallipoli was lost, but the war was won albeit at an unspeakably high cost. The ANZAC spirit symbolises victory over fear and tyranny. 

No, no complaints from me today. Just thanks. I especially want to mention my late grandad, Victor Rayner, who was a paratrooper in WWII, and my uncle, Alf Cairns, who fought in Vietnam, but to all who served and are serving...thank you.

Honour the fallen. Lest we forget.

The Underwhelming performance of Umbrellas

It's Autumn in Australia, and Autumn is a season typically characterised by increasingly cool mornings and evenings, but pleasant, sunny days, and mild temperatures. However, the weather has recently been much more wintery. At the beginning of the week we had three days of continual rain, storms and chilly temperatures (by Australian standards anyway). It can be very difficult to stay dry when it rains all the time. Difficult? Okay, virtually impossible.
Umbrellas do well in their designated task of protecting one from rain...unless it's windy as well. A gusty, wet day usually sees the demise of many unfortunate rain guardians. It's indiscriminate carnage really. Smaller umbrellas, the type that are convenient to carry in your bag, in case it rains, are the generally the first victims. Larger, sturdier versions are not immune to this destruction either. I lost a dear friend this week, a faithful servant who made the ultimate sacrifice for me. (See picture above right.)
If you get one large and strong enough to give you a hope of real defence, and let's not forget that unless the rain is vertical, you'll still get wet - you are armed with a cumbersome device which makes doing just about anything extremely awkward.
I love it when you get to your car and try to close the umbrella before, or at the same time as, you try to get in. Love that little shower, and the water which flicks all over you car's floor and seats.
When the weather is really appalling, one has to realise the mortal limitations of umbrellas, and just accept the tragic inevitabilities...or somewhat comical outcomes as seen in the video below. I hope the weather is all right wherever you are in this wonderful world of ours.

Tea is Terrific

The experiment commenced on Day 7 of the A to Z Blogging Challenge continues today because the results weren't especially illuminating nor what I was expecting according to my as yet unrevealed theory. To either prove or disprove my theory, I clearly need more evidence. Hence this rather mundane blog about one of my favourite drinks (I have many actually)...tea.

I really love tea but I never have more than three mugs a day. Yes, mugs, I do not drink from tea cups. Although there are billions of varieties of tea, I generally stick to good old fashioned black tea. I'm a teabag guy, (no pots) and I like it strong in the morning, but weak in the afternoon or evening. I take it with one sugar and a little milk. It is generally accompanied by chocolate in one form or another, and sometimes a cigarette, if I am alone.

Now for some fast facts about tea courtesy of 66 Sip-a-licious facts about tea


There are an estimated 1500 different types of tea (my 'billions' was a little off the mark)Tea is the national drink in Afghanistan and Iran.Ireland is the largest nation of tea drinkers per capita.China is the world's largest producer of tea.Tea is the second most widely consumed drink in the world (you can probably guess number one)Okay, it's over to you. Share your thoughts on tea, and if you can guess what theory it is I am trying to prove with both my Grape Grapes are Great and Tea posts, I'll give you a digital copy of one of my novels.